Feminizing hormone therapy

Overview

Feminizing hormone therapy is used to induce physical changes in your body caused by female hormones during puberty (secondary sex characteristics) to promote the matching of your gender identity and your body (gender congruence). If feminizing hormone therapy is started before the changes of male puberty begin, male secondary sex characteristics, such as increased body hair and changes in voice pitch, can be avoided. Feminizing hormone therapy is also referred to as cross-sex hormone therapy.

During feminizing hormone therapy, you'll be given medication to block the action of the hormone testosterone. You'll also be given the hormone estrogen to decrease testosterone production and induce feminine secondary sex characteristics. Changes caused by these medications can be temporary or permanent. Feminizing hormone therapy can be done alone or in combination with feminizing surgery.

Feminizing hormone therapy isn't for all transgender women, however. Feminizing hormone therapy can affect your fertility and sexual function and cause other health problems. Your doctor can help you weigh the risks and benefits.

Why it's done

Feminizing hormone therapy is used to alter your hormone levels to match your gender identity. Typically, people who seek feminizing hormone therapy experience distress due to a difference between experienced or expressed gender and sex assigned at birth (gender dysphoria). To avoid excess risk, the goal is to maintain hormone levels in the normal range for the target gender.

Feminizing hormone therapy can:

Make gender dysphoria less severe

Reduce psychological and emotional distress

Improve psychological and social functioning

Improve sexual satisfaction

Improve quality of life

Although use of hormones is currently not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of gender dysphoria, research suggests that it can be safe and effective.

If used in an adolescent, hormone therapy typically begins at age 16. Ideally, treatment starts before the development of secondary sex characteristics so that teens can go through puberty as their identified gender. Hormone therapy is not typically used in children.

Have a thromboembolic disease, such as when a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins of your body (deep vein thrombosis) or a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in your lungs (pulmonary embolism)

Have uncontrolled significant mental health issues

Risks

Talk to your doctor about the changes in your body and any concerns you might have. Complications of feminizing hormone therapy might include:

A blood clot in a deep vein (deep vein thrombosis) or in a lung (pulmonary embolism)

High triglycerides, a type of fat (lipid) in your blood

Gallstones

Weight gain

Elevated liver function tests

Decreased libido

Erectile dysfunction

Infertility

High potassium (hyperkalemia)

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Type 2 diabetes

Cardiovascular disease, when at least two other cardiovascular risk factors are present

Excessive prolactin in your blood (hyperprolactinemia) or a condition in which a noncancerous tumor (adenoma) of the pituitary gland in your brain overproduces the hormone prolactin (prolactinoma)

Current evidence indicates that there is no increased risk of breast cancer.

Your fertility

Because feminizing hormone therapy might reduce your fertility, you'll need to make decisions about future childbearing before starting treatment. The risk of permanent infertility increases with long-term use of hormones, especially when hormone therapy is initiated before puberty. Even after discontinuation of hormone therapy, testicular function might not recover sufficiently to ensure conception.

If you want to have biological children, talk to your doctor about freezing your sperm (sperm cryopreservation) before beginning feminizing hormone therapy.

Other side effects of estrogen use in trans women include reduced libido, erectile function and ejaculation. Erectile function might improve with the use of oral medications such as sildenafil (Viagra) or tadalafil (Adcirca, Cialis).

How you prepare

Before starting feminizing hormone therapy, your doctor will evaluate your health to rule out or address any medical conditions that might affect or contraindicate treatment. The evaluation might include:

A review of your personal and family medical history

A physical exam, including an assessment of your external reproductive organs

Adolescents younger than age 18, accompanied by their parents or guardians, also should see doctors and mental health providers with expertise in pediatric transgender health to discuss the risks of hormone therapy, as well as the effects and possible complications of gender transition.

After six to eight weeks, you'll begin taking estrogen to decrease testosterone production and induce feminization. Estrogen can be taken in a variety of methods, including as a pill, by injection or in skin preparations, such as a cream, gel, spray or patch. Don't take estrogen orally, however, if you have a personal or family history of venous thrombosis. Use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn-RH) analogs to suppress testosterone production might allow you to take lower estrogen doses and wouldn't require the use of spironolactone. However, Gn-RH analogs are more expensive.

Additional therapies might include:

Progesterone that's been reduced to tiny particles (micronized), which might improve breast development

Finasteride (Propecia) or topical minoxidil (Rogaine) or both for people prone to male-pattern baldness

After the procedure

Decreased libido. This will begin one to three months after starting treatment. The maximum effect will occur within one to two years.

Decreased spontaneous erections. This will begin one to three months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within three to six months.

Slowing of scalp hair loss. This will begin one to three months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within one to two years.

Softer, less oily skin. This will begin three to six months after treatment.

Testicular atrophy. This will begin three to six months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within two to three years.

Breast development. This will begin three to six months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within two to three years.

Redistribution of body fat. This will begin three to six months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within two to five years.

Decreased muscle mass. This will begin three to six months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within one to two years.

Decreased facial and body hair growth. This will begin six to 12 months after treatment. The maximum effect will occur within three years.

Results

During your first year of feminizing hormone therapy, you'll need to see your doctor approximately every three months for checkups, as well as anytime you make changes to your hormone regimen. Your doctor will: